Definitions Flashcards
Differences in personality from one person to another
Individual Differences
Psychological processes that take place within the person
Intrapersonal Functioning
The quality of requiring few assumptions; simplicity
Parsimony
A dynamic organization, inside the person, of psychophysical systems that create the person’s characteristic patterns of behavior, thoughts, and feelings
Personality
A summary statement, a principle or set of principles about a class of events
Theory
An in depth study of one individual
Case Study
A relationship such that variation in one dimension produces variation in another
Causality (Causal relationship)
An association large enough to have some practical importance
Clinically Significant
A relationship in which two variables or dimensions covary when measured repeatedly
Correlation
A numeric index of the degree of correlation between two variables
Correlation Coeffecient
The variable measured as the outcome of an experiment; the effect in a cause - effect relationship
Dependent Variable
Statistics used to describe or characterize some group
Descriptive Statistics
A method in which people report repeatedly on their current experiences
Experience Sampling
The holding constant of variables that are not being manipulated
Experimental Control
The method in which one variable is manipulated to test for causal influence on another variable
Experimental Method
A study involving a personality factor and an experimental factor
Experimental Personality Research
The degree to which a conclusion applies to many people
Generality (Generalizability)
Relating to an approach that focuses on a particular person across situations
Idiographic
The variable manipulated in an experiment and tested as the cause in a cause - effect relationship
Independent Variable
Statistics used to judge whether a relationship exists between variables
Inferential Statistics
A finding in which the effect of one predictor variable differs depending on the level of another predictor variable
Interaction
A finding in which the effect of one predictor variable is independent of other variables
Main Effect
A study with two (or more) predictor variables
Multifactor Study
The study of the whole person, as opposed to the study of only one aspect of the person
Personology